Banning inexpensive guns has only one effect--making it impossible for poor folks to defend themselves.

The rich and powerful elites who lead the charge to ban guns hire armed guards or retreat to their skyscraper condos or gated communities, leaving the rest of us defenseless.

Recently the clamor has switched to "assault weapons."

The gun-banners are apparently ignorant of the fact that such weapons have been virtually banned since passage of the National Firearms Act in 1934, and have been completely illegal in Illinois for many years.

What the anti-gun forces mean by "assault weapon" is any gun that looks "nasty," and every semi-automatic gun, including those manufactured 100 years ago and those used by millions of hunters and target shooters.

Anyone who grew up in Chicago before the 1960s knows that in those days, any adult could walk into any hardware or sporting goods store, pay a few dollars and walk out with a gun in his pocket.

I paid $17 at Montgomery Ward for my first rifle, at age 18, and a similar amount for my first pistol, which I bought by mail order. There were few regulations.

But despite the widespread, easy and inexpensive availability of guns, Chicago's streets and parks were much safer then than they are today.

In those pre-air-conditioning days, on hot July nights, my family slept on the grass on Douglas Boulevard without fear of being bothered in any way, let alone being attacked, robbed or shot.

As guns become less available to honest citizens, the thugs, who don't obey gun laws or any other laws, take over the streets.